tung oil question

B

beyondmyken

Joined
Dec 23, 2000
Messages
217
is tung oil finish the same thing as tung oil? I have read posts about tung oil and linseed oil and it seems a toss up as to which to use.
 
Some Tung Oil finishes have a shellac added for ease of finishing. Nothing wrong with that as long as you expect it.

You can get tung oil at most paint stores, Wal Mart, builders supply etc.

Pure tung oil is fairly waterproof, but very flat. So if you wanted a slightly higher gloss, you have to work harder for it.


If you use linseed oil, get the boiled kind with dryers added. Regular linseed takes forever to dry, maybe never.
I have always used Birchwood Casey's Tru Oil, gunstock finish. It's the type of linseed described above. Wal Mart for that too, firearms department.
 
I discovered Teak Oil a while back and prefer it to Tung Oil and Watco Oil now. It was made to treat rosewood and other hard oily woods and is thin so it sinks in very well and doesn't build up any sticky surface gunk.
 
If you want real Tung oil, but modified somewhat for our purposes, google search on Waterlox.

RL
 
I have been told by some nice person on BladeForums that Tung oil is thinner than linseed oil. That would make it better (deeper in the wood) penitrating.
For linseed oil I put the finished knife in a plastic bag and fill over the handle and seal the top. Then I leave it as long as I can stand it! At least a few days. I have a couple in my kitchen made from black walnut that have been used and abused for a couple of years without problems.
Not necessarly correct, just what I do.
Lynn
 
I had been using Watco Tung oil but Have discovered that I get a better and more durable finish if I put one coat of linseed oil and rub it very smooth. Let it dry completely and buff.

Use one thin but complete coat of Watco Teak oil and let it dry overnight.
Buff the next day.
 
I found the book "Understanding Wood Finishing, How to Select & Apply the Right Finish" by Bob Flexner to be very informative. Like any book doesn't cover every "what if".

Would recommend trying to get book from local library system, or request an interlibrary loan to get the book form anywhere in the country. I always take advantage of this to preview books and videos before spending the money to add into my personel library.
 
I think I can finally add my 2 cents worth on this forum, instead of just asking questions...I have finished about 250 gunstocks and a buncha antique furniture and have used all the finishes you mention. Tung oil is not the same as tung oil finish, like what Formby's is. Pure tung oil is a very slooow drying oil that does penetrate well, but it needs a dryer added to it to facilitate drying. Usually, a "dryer" is added to the pure tung oil to accomplish this. Tung oil "finish" has additives put in, most of the times it is some type of dryer, and/or polyurathanes added to 1) make it dry quicker obviously, 2) increase its impact resistance and 3) resistance to moisture. Yep, I know, tung oil is the most waterproof oil there is..and it is...but it is an oil, and it and all the other oils (Danish, Teak, etc) will absorb some moisture. The plastics are added to help in this area. This is why polyurethanes are thought of as more waterproof in the furniture industry. But, they, as a surface finish, as opposed to a penetrating finish, can't give the depth of color and brilliance
that oils can.

In experimenting on which oil to use on gunstocks and furniture I ended up settling on Teak oil finish. My reasons: Just as waterproof as Teak oil finish, and after sanding it in, it gave a prettier finish 99% of the time. Linseed Oil was not even in the race...least waterproof of them all. However, I learned an old trick from a prominent stockmaker that I use and it goes a long way towards correcting the moisture issue. Use Thompson's Water Seal before your first coat of oil...thats the trick. Here's how I do it and so far, no complaints from the folks that I have done this for.....turns out beautiful. It will work just the same for handles as stocks. I first sand the wood and whisker it @ 320 grit. I then coat the wood in Thompsons Water Seal as much as it will soak in...wipe off excess after 30 minutes...let dry one or two days as temperature and humidity dictates. I then coat it again with Thompsons and wipe off after 30 minutes, dry for a day or so. Then I tear my 320 grit sandpaper into sections, oh, about 3" square, and coat them with teak oil, and sand in on the wood. Let it sit for 30-45 minutes and soak in the pores of the wood, and then wipe off the excess with either a paper towel or an old T-shirt perpindicular to the direction of the grain. I prefer a paper towel, as it tends to lift out less finish out of the pores. The trick, obviously, is to sand in the mixture of oil and sanding dust into the pores of the wood and let as much of the mixture as possible dry in the pores of the wood. Let it sit for a day...do the same with 400 grit. Next day 600 grit and so on till you get the finish you desire. At about 600 grit you will see the difference between the tung and teak oils...teak will be deeper, and will have more of a sheen than Tung oil will, albeit, a satin sheen, not a gaudy, shiny sheen. I usually take things on down to 1800 grit or 2000 grit and by then it will really be showing the natural beauty of the wood. About the time you get to 600 grit, depending on the individual piece of wood, you will have the pores just about filled in. Once you have the pores filled in, you are just polishing from there on...with tung oil, it will be hard to get that same sheen as you could with Teak oil. You can use any number of wax's from there to put that final polish on the piece...Rennisance Wax is, of course, fantastic for this.

Take care...sorry so long and windy in my response.
 
I like the teak oil like Watco, just be sure the teak oil in question is polymerizing, and not just some stuff with non-drying "furniture oils in it.

The key to getting a shine on tung oil, if that is what you want, it to buff it. Oneway and others make systems designed to buff tung oil. This finish is incredibly durable and can be raised to any shine you like. Most knife makers probably already have the gear to do this. You can mix tung, linseed, and varnish to make a wonderful finish that is sold under the Maloof finish name. Tung is a very thick oil, so if you have thin stuff, you have thinners.
 
>godogs57
(big snip)
> Use Thompson's Water Seal before your first coat of oil...thats the trick.

I have used Tung and Teak oil finishes for wood projects for longer than I will say. :) But I don't understand the Thompson's. Could you give me a little more information on why you use the Thompson's?

>Then I tear my 320 grit sandpaper into sections, oh, about 3" square, and coat them with teak oil, and sand in on the wood.

I learned from someone about using 0000 steel wool to put on the last coats of oil. Makes a nice finish on small projects that you want a non-glossy finish. The more coats, at least on furniture, the better it looks.

Lynn
 
Lynn, If I could butt in, I think the reason for the Thompson's is the same as my Linseed base, only better.
Number one: the Thompson's and the Linseed provide a base that the Teak can build on. To be honest, if that were the only reason, you could build the same base with just Teak and elbow grease. The Linseed oil just makes it a little faster.

Number two: This is a big one and one of the reasons I am going to try Thompson's. It has to provide a deeper and more dense water barrier. The Teak oil just adds body, sheen and a tougher skin!
 
Thanks to all for your replies. I have another ?, does not the additives in the finish such as teak oil finish dissolve the epoxy somewhat. I suppose the little bit of this would then reform after drying. As a tangent to all of this, a bowmaker of traditional archery gear uses diluted epoxy for a coating on his bows, dilutes the epoxy with acetone I believe.
 
does not the additives in the finish such as teak oil finish dissolve the epoxy

Not if the epoxy is properly cured.
Acetone is the standard solvent for epoxy but only uncured epoxy. I build or make that try to build a few self bows. I use West System epoxy...106 I think. The first coat is diluted and a second straight coat goes on before the first cures.
 
Hey Lynn,

I use the Thompsons water seal for one purpose...to provide a 100% waterproof "base", so to speak, prior to actually finishing the wood with Teak Oil. Accepting the fact that oils are not 100% waterproof...perhaps 99% but not 100%...I want to give it all the help I can. Once it dries, I have found it does NOT color the wood, make it darker, etc....the Teak will do that for me. Try this: grab a scrap of wood, do the Thompsons water seal trick and run the wood under the faucet the next day and watch what the water does.....it will make you a believer.

The 0000 steel wool will approximate a 600 grit finish if you want to stop there, but if it is a pretty piece, I always want to take it on out to 1800 or 2000 grit and get that chattoyance, I believe it is called. I bet you a hundred bucks I misspelled it, but it is that 3-D effect you get in pretty woods like highly figured desert ironwood.

Speaking of epoxy....I just ordered some "mid-cure" epoxy...the 15 minute stuff that is sold from a number of folks and is labeled for their retail sales....hate it...it ain't 15 minutes and is a ^&%$ to get out of certain areas on the knife...it does not cure like the old 5 minute wal mart stuff.

Oh well...take it easy and good luck
 
Thanks for the info on Thompsons and a new finishing method to try. I haven't been too impressed with the Thompsons on a neighbor's deck. It lasted less than a year but with the tung oil it should increase the usefull life.
I always include a small amount of tung oil with wood finished that way so the customer can renew the finish after a couple of years. I don't have any feed back so I can't report anyone actually using it.
Lynn
 
Protactical said:
anyone know what is in Thomp. water seal?
Click to expand...


It's been too many years since I read the can. One thing I do remember is, it's toxic. Just be careful using it. Don't breathe the fumes, or get it on bare skin. :eek: ;)
 
Thanks for the warning. Just did the deck, and it didn't seem to friendly.

Acetone in epoxy to thin it for greater penetration seems like a waste of time. the mix is weter, it's an open question whether the epoxy is any less granular and sinks in deeper. That's why the rot doctor gets the big bucks for his epoxy, it is thinner at a molecular level (that sounds like nonsense, mine by the way, but that's what it's like to use), it really goes in deep, and fully hardens. System three has a new product out that does the same thing, I don't know how well it works, I haven't heard any reviews.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top